THE CITY opens January 22nd!

Malcolm on 01 20, 2010

By Malcolm Devine, a member of The Group Rep.

Family, heritage, duty, scorn.

The pull between City and Country. Would you rather be a big fish in a small pond or small fish in a big pond? Why assume you’d be a small fish in the big pond?

Fathers, sons, mothers, daughters. Exceeding your parents, worrying about your children exceeding you…

Doors, secrets.

Society, money, position, ambition…

What will you give up to get what you want?  You’re never prepared for how deep the feelers will go to suss out what’s wrong with your family, then turn those stories around to make them about you and your character. What will your ambition tell you to do? Should you follow it? Will you lose everything if you don’t?

Politics, murder, scandal, intrigue.

When  the scandal couldn’t get any worse, it DOES.

These are just a few of the ideas that THE CITY (written by Clyde Fitch) tosses around and uses as a backdrop for its action. For a play that was originally written in 1909, it is surprisingly fresh. In fact, Clyde Fitch was indeed very modern when he was alive.  People took notice of him; his voice, his walk, his demeanor, his interests – were simply not like theirs and he was demeaned for it. But Fitch, ever the modern man, said “I would rather be misunderstood than lose my independence… I did not see why I should do things I hated to do merely to conform to public opinion.”

This was not normal behavior at the turn of the 20^th century.

But no matter, New York – which has always loved what is new and modern – loved Clyde Fitch. Often, Fitch would have four of his plays running at the same time. So modern was he, that when for the first production of THE CITY, the theatre hired an extra staff of maids and strong-armed ushers to look after the fainting women in the audience. What was it that Fitch was saying that got to everyone? The truth.

This is the play The Group Rep is mounting.  THE CITY opens January 22^nd. All I ask is for you to ask yourself: Where was the best in you brought out – The Country or THE CITY?

Tickets are available now.

[© MMX MD TOTAL in association with Soccerboy in LA]